Duke guard Chelsea Gray drives to the basket between Cal's Courtney Range (left) and Mercedes Jefflo in the first half. Gray grew up in Manteca.

Duke guard Chelsea Gray drives to the basket between Cal's Courtney Range (left) and Mercedes Jefflo in the first half. Gray grew up in Manteca.

Photo: George Nikitin, Associated Press

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Cal's Mercedes Jefflo defends Duke's Elizabeth Williams in the first half. Williams was held to five points but had a game-high 11 rebounds.

Cal's Mercedes Jefflo defends Duke's Elizabeth Williams in the first half. Williams was held to five points but had a game-high 11 rebounds.

Photo: George Nikitin, Associated Press

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Duke pulls away from Cal women in 2nd half

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Chelsea Gray and Afure Jemerigbe, good friends and former teammates at St. Mary's High School in Stockton, had a reunion at Haas Pavilion on Sunday.

It was a little sweeter for Gray, who scored a game-high 22 points to lead second-ranked Duke to a 70-58 victory over No. 9 Cal. Jemerigbe led the Bears with 16 points.

"She's the same player as in high school with her fancy, no-look passes," Jemerigbe said of Gray, recalling their days at St. Mary's, a girls basketball powerhouse that won a 2009 state title. "She could do it all."

Including host a whale of a team party.

Gray, who grew up in Manteca, had the Duke team to her house for a Friday night feast after it staged a practice at her alma mater. "Amazing dinner," Gray said. "They ate all my food, though. No leftovers."

Duke carried the good vibes to Sunday, winning the first top-10 matchup of the season. The day started when the near-capacity crowd watched a pregame ceremony in which the Bears showed off banners commemorating their Pac 12 co-championship and first Final Four appearance.

A lot of coaches will schedule soft opponents early to pad their records and ease in to stiffer competition, but Cal head coach Lindsay Gottlieb took it to a higher level by inviting Duke to Berkeley for an early-November indication on how the Bears rate after two games.

"They exposed us in ways we can and will get better," she said. "I'd rather be 1-1 and learn those things than be 4-0 and not have this challenge. We need to grow. We're not as game-ready as we were at this time last year."

Duke returned its starting five and seven top scorers. Cal lost two starters and is relying on new people, including freshman Courtney Range, who's also from Manteca and led Cal with 10 rebounds.

"Just the experience," Jemerigbe said when asked about the benefit of facing Duke early in the season. "We're playing with a new team."

Jemerigbe's aggressiveness with the ball helped Cal jump to a 7-4 lead. Moments later, the Bears trailed 12-7. It was a streaky first half for both teams, Cal cutting the margin to 14-12, falling back 24-14 and then pulling to 24-23 on three straight three-pointers.

Duke rallied to enter intermission leading 30-25. The Blue Devils poured it on to open the second half and built a 17-point lead at one point. After that, Cal cut the deficit but not to single digits.

"This is the type of team we want to play deep in March," Gottlieb said. "But we have to be get better the next day and the next day and the next day before we talk about that."

Brittany Boyd collected 13 points for Cal, seven in the final minutes, and six assists. Duke freshman Oderah Chidom, recruited out of Oakland's Bishop O'Dowd High School, made her college debut, scoring three points with a rebound and a block in seven minutes.